Young, Aspiring Indians Fuel Rise of Narendra Modi

NEW DELHI—Ravindra, a 23-year-old textile-company supervisor, is part of a generation of Indians who have emerged as a crucial voting bloc as national elections began Monday.

Born around the time India began liberalizing its previously socialist economy in 1991, Mr. Ravindra and his cohorts—no longer poor but not yet firmly in the middle class—have higher expectations than their parents and want leaders who can deliver more rapid...